Compeer Financial Fund for Rural America

Guidance and GRANTS

Compeer helps clients with transition planning

Opposite page: John and Carol Breedlove run the family’s 4,000 acre operation and are preparing to transition the farm to the next generation. Above: The Breedloves partnered with one of Compeer Financial’s transition planning partners to develop a plan that’s customized to their unique operation and meets the goals they have for the future of their farm.

MANITO, Ill. – A few decades ago, it wasn’t uncommon for a young, secondgeneration farmer to take over the family operation with little more than a handshake and a “you’ll figure it out.” But things have changed. Farming today looks different than it did in the 1980s and ‘90s — and so does transitioning the farm from one generation to the next.

John Breedlove, who farms 4,000 acres near Manito, Ill., is familiar with this story. He grew up working on his dad’s operation and, after graduating college in 1980, returned to the family farm to begin his full-time career.

“In those days, it was much more informal,” Breedlove said. “My dad didn’t really have any plans for transitioning. Nobody that I knew did.”

Fortunately, Breedlove more than “figured it out,” and the farm he took over has since grown to 4,000 acres of soybeans, corn, seed corn, popcorn and pumpkins.

Several years ago, Breedlove and his wife Carol began discussing what the next few chapters of their life might look like. “Farming is hard on the body,” Breedlove said. “Carol worries about me. We needed to start thinking about the future.” want his two sons and son-in-law — who either farm or work in agriculture — to end up in a tough situation if something happened to him.

“We own 50 percent of our land; we have assets,” Breedlove explained. “Taxes and regulations are constantly changing. We needed to set a timeline and put safeguards in place so we could pass the farm on to the next generation without their having to sell everything.”

John and Carol also knew that between taxes, estate issues and financial planning, it made sense to work with experts who understand farming and their operation. John attended a Compeer Financial Transition and Succession Planning seminar, where he connected with several consultants, interviewed them and then started working with them.

“We work with our financial offer at Compeer, a consultant from one of Compeer’s transition planning partners and our own bookkeeper,” Breedlove said. “They came to our farm and helped us, along with our kids, run through some exercises on dynamics and goals; and we all studied the financials.”

Together, they came up with a transition plan that works for everyone involved. As Breedlove said, “It’s an evolving process. Things are always changing, and it’s great to have experts on our side to help us make the best decisions.”

An added bonus was a $1,000 grant provided by Compeer’s Fund for Rural America to help cover the costs associated with building the plan.

“The support from Compeer was a big help and a great motivator for advancing our plan,” Breedlove said. “Compeer isn’t just telling us that transition planning is important. They provide resources and dollars to back up the philosophy. That support helped keep our fire stoked and helps us stick with it as the plan evolves.”

TRANSITION PLANNING HELP

As more and more clients face the prospect of transitioning their farm operation, Compeer Financial offers annual transition planning seminars in February and monthly transition planning webinars April through November.

For more information about Compeer’s transition planning services, including educational opportunities and grants, email our transition planning team at transitionplanning@compeer.com.

Making a QUICK PIVOT

Farmamerica goes virtual to continue connecting students with agriculture

WASECA, Minn. – Nearly 2,000 elementary and middle school students visit Farmamerica every spring for school field trips and ag career exploration days. On a site spanning 360 acres just outside of Waseca, Minn., the nonprofit interpretive center focuses on connecting people with agriculture through on-site experiences for students, guided tours, community events and more.

As a visitor to Farmamerica, you first come upon a walking path, visitor center and historical buildings depicting what rural life and agriculture were like more than 150 years ago. You’ll also find 240 acres of tillable land, which gives visitors the opportunity to see crops up-close and in person and provides income for about a third of Farmamerica’s yearly budget. But when students were sent home to start distance learning due to COVID-19, the team at Farmamerica had to get creative and quickly adjust plans. The organization turned to virtual learning to reach students, building a website and developing ag career videos, instructional videos and activities for their virtual ag career exploration days.

“It’s been an interesting pivot,” said Samantha Meyer, program director at Farmamerica. “In addition to the online content, we also provided some hands-on activities students could do with materials readily available at home and in their own backyards.”

The pandemic impacted spring field trips for elementary students two years in a row. Again, Farmamerica went virtual to connect with students.

“In a way, it gave us more flexibility,” noted Jessica Rollins, executive director at Farmamerica. “For example, we were able to virtually take the students into the hay mow, which they don’t get to experience during in-person tours. Our video tours let students see things they may not normally be able to see when they come on site.”

This spring, Farmamerica is putting together free classroom kits to give students even more hands-on activities, paired with the virtual field trips.

“These virtual offerings and classroom kits will help us reach schools that are too far away to visit via field trip,” Meyer said. “Our videos are also posted on YouTube, which is helping us to reach a broader audience. It could even influence schools in other parts of the nation wanting to learn about agriculture and rural life in the Upper Midwest.”

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

The pandemic has also impacted Farmamerica’s plans to expand, requiring the organization to adjust timelines as they seek to modernize the visitor center with a fresh look, interactive stations, an updated classroom and more.

“We are very excited for this facelift,” Rollins said. “The visitor center was built 20 years ago, with the intent to create a more inviting, engaging and interactive space with exhibits about modern agriculture, but it didn’t come to fruition at that time.”

Compeer Financial’s Fund for Rural America has been a long-time supporter of Farmamerica’s mission by funding a feasibility study for the expansion, gifts for interactive stations about soil health and farmer sustainability that will soon be added, and funding for the Farmamerica’s virtual programming during the pandemic. “People want to know where their food comes from and understand the connection, but they don’t always know where to turn for that information,” Rollins said. “With Compeer’s support of this expansion and our other programming, Farmamerica can be the place for people to come, explore, discover and really connect with the story of agriculture and how it relates to their everyday lives.”

At left: A rendering of Farmamerica’s remodeling project shows a refreshed and modernized visitor center. Top right: Sitting on 360 acres near Waseca, Minn., Farmamerica connects visitors with the evolution of agriculture. Bottom right: Jessica Rollins (left) and Samantha Meyer (right) worked to pivot Farmamerica’s school programming to continue connecting with students during the pandemic.

To learn more about Farmamerica, visit their website at www.farmamerica.org.

Farmer-led Solutions for SUSTAINABILITY

Farmers take a scientific approach to measure conservation efforts

SOUTH WAYNE, Wis. – Many people think of sustainability solely as an environmental mission, but Farmers for Sustainable Food (FSF) is set to expand this perspective. The nonprofit organization, which promotes and supports farmer-led solutions to environmental challenges, is setting out to prove economic and social implications must also be considered to achieve sustainability.

And when it comes to agriculture, farmers should be leading the way.

This year, FSF (formerly the Dairy Strong Sustainability Alliance), worked with the Lafayette Ag Stewardship Alliance, a farmer-led watershed conservation group in southwest Wisconsin, and key stakeholders in the dairy supply chain to create a replicable framework for farmerled sustainability projects. They also launched a pilot project to demonstrate the efficacy and impact of that framework. In a specific local watershed, the groups will partner with organizations like the Nature Conservatory and universities to push each other to find innovative solutions. The goal is to improve conservation efforts and measure these improvements with science.

“This sustainability project is truly unique,” said Todd Doornink, a dairy farmer in Baldwin, Wis., and president of FSF. “We’re incorporating the environmental and financial aspects of sustainability, bringing benefits to local communities. Conservation must not only protect and improve our natural resources, but also fit into the farmer’s business model.”

Twelve farms, including eight dairy operations, have joined the sustainability pilot project and are documenting the efficacy of conservation efforts over the next two years. The work is supported through a MORE for Agriculture Grant from the Compeer Financial Fund for Rural America. MORE is an acronym describing the criteria for grant funding. The project must align with Compeer’s mission, provide a new opportunity, be replicable and evolve over time to create a better future for agriculture and rural America. Grant recipients had to be referred by a Compeer team member.

“This pilot model directly impacts livestock and grain farmers in Compeer’s territory and across rural America,” said Greg Steele, senior dairy lending specialist at Compeer, who referred the sustainability project. “It is demonstrating agriculture’s commitment to the rural community by engaging in local community discussions on environmental stewardship.”

The participating farmers are motivated by the prospects of influencing the future of legislation around agricultural conservation. They hope to find more efficient ways to conserve while remaining cost effective. “Working with like-minded farmers, we were able to come up with solutions to better our operations in soil conservation and water quality, with the benefit of helping our rural communities as well,” said Jim Winn, a dairy farmer in South Wayne, Wis., who also leads his local watershed group. “This is why I love working with farmer-led watershed groups like this. There is no greater satisfaction than finding those solutions that really work.”

Above left: FSF relies on scientific measurements to determine the effectiveness of their innovative sustainability solutions.

Above right: Through FSF, farmers partner with other organizations and universities, pushing each other to find unique methods of sustainability that have a positive impact, while also fitting into the farmer’s business model.

SUSTAINABILITY KEYS TO SUCCESS

The first year of the Farmers for Sustainable Food sustainability pilot project led to some interesting findings.

Based on their farming practices, participating farms had above-average sustainability scores compared to state and natural averages. Those practices also contributed to significant reductions in pollutants to streams.

Farms with livestock and those that use manure for most of their crop nutrient needs had higher-than-average sustainability scores. Because manure replaces the use of inorganic forms of nitrogen, which have a higher energy (fossil fuel) cost to produce, they had better greenhouse gas emission and energy use scores.

Existing conservation on these farms is reducing sediment loss by approximately 35 percent at local streams and rivers. Predictions are that if these farms scaled up their conservation practices, the result would be an additional reduction of 5,837 tons of sediment (19 percent), 3,914 pounds of nitrogen (24 percent) and 194 pounds of phosphorus (20 percent).

MORE FOR AGRICULTURE GRANT PROGRAM

Have an innovative program that creates MORE for Agriculture? Contact your local Compeer team member for more information about the grant program and qualifications.